While this may not be the most accurate system with which to measure what calibre of player someone is, it seems surprising that the Gunners would be landing a genuine world class star for under £50million, without the offer of Champions League football, and with seemingly no competition from Manchester United, Chelsea and the usual suspects.

Linked with Arsenal on a number of occasions in the last few summers, Lacazette seems, for better or for worse, to perfectly fit the bill for Arsenal: French, young-ish, just outside the unrealistic bracket of the likes of Gonzalo Higuain or Robert Lewandowski, and therefore affordable. Importantly for Arsenal fans as well, he’s arriving in a position the club need to strengthen and is coming in early, suggesting the club have got their act together in the transfer market a little more than usual.

In many ways, he joins as a similar calibre of player to that of Alexis Sanchez when he left Barcelona for north London three years ago, and look how that worked out.

Lacazette looks set to become Arsenal’s record signing (Picture: Getty)

The reality is, this is the Arsenal have to compete in for the moment, and of that market there doesn’t look to be a better option than Lacazette, with his highlights clips suggesting the quality behind the numbers – he’s more than just a tap-in man.

Arsene Wenger himself has had mixed success with signing forwards from Ligue 1 – Sylvain Wiltord, Emmanuel Adebayor and Olivier Giroud were all pretty decent, while Marouane Chamakh, Gervinho and Park Chu-Young were disastrous.

Only time will tell how good a signing Lacazette proves to be, but for now we have his recent stats and can attempt an educated guess when comparing him to the three of the Premier League’s currently top centre-forwards…

Total league goals last season

League goals 2016/17

Harry Kane29Alexandre Lacazette27Romelu Lukaku25Sergio Aguero20

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First up, the most important stat – goals. We’ve put Lacazette up against Golden Boot winner Harry Kane, as well as Romelu Lukaku and Sergio Aguero. While Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa finished above the latter in the scoring charts, the Arsenal man played a variety of positions and isn’t a typical striker even when used up front, while Chelsea’s top scorer is looking highly unlikely to still be in England next season.

Kane’s tally of 29 league goals for Tottenham puts him top, but Lacazette is a close second with 27 in Ligue 1. He is therefore above Lukaku, who is being linked with Chelsea, and a whole seven clear of Manchester City front-man Aguero, widely regarded to be one of the deadliest finishers in the game.

Harry Kane has won the Golden Boot two seasons in a row (Picture: Getty)

The comparison with Lukaku is particularly interesting: the Everton man is expected to cost around double what Arsenal look like paying for Lacazette, but achieved his 25 goals despite playing seven games more.

Goals from penalties

Goals from penalties

Alexandre Lacazette10Harry Kane5Sergio Aguero4Romelu Lukaku1

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Now this stat may be some cause of concern for Arsenal fans – a whopping ten of Lacazette’s 27 league goals last season came from the penalty spot.

For context, that’s the same as Kane (5), Lukaku (1) and Aguero (4) put together, so he’ll have to make sure he’s on spot-kick duty at the Emirates Stadium.

Still, if Ruud van Nistelrooy can make a career out of it, then why not the Frenchman?

Alexandre Lacazette at Lyon

2009/10
Appearances 1 | Goals 0

2010/11
Appearances 11 | Goals 2

2011/12
Appearances 43 | Goals 10

2012/13
Appearances 37 | Goals 4

2013/14
Appearances 54 | Goals 22

2014/15
Appearances 40 | Goals 31

2015/16
Appearances 44 | Goals 23

2016/17
Appearances 45 | Goals 37

TOTAL
Appearances 275 | Goals 129

Goals from outside the box

Goals from outside the penalty area

Harry Kane5Alexandre Lacazette2Romelu Lukaku1Sergio Aguero1

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It’s always a nice bonus if your striker can score from a variety of angles and distances, with recent Arsenal striking greats such as Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie just as lethal from 30 yards as from six.

Did you know?

Lacazette is the first player to score 20 or more Ligue 1 goals in three consecutive seasons since Jean-Pierre Papin in 1991

Lacazette, however, doesn’t really seem like someone who’s going to do much damage from distance, scoring just twice from outside the box last season.

Kane again comes top here with five from outside the penalty area, while Lukaku and Aguero managed just one each for their clubs.

Alexis Sanchez surprisingly managed just three in the Premier League last season, but has proven a threat from range, be it from open play or set pieces, throughout his career.

Despite inevitable comparisons, Lacazette is not the all-rounder Thierry Henry was (Picture: Getty)

Shot accuracy

Shot accuracy (%)

For shot accuracy, Lacazette is right up there with Kane on 65%, and there’s not a huge gulf between him and Lukaku, who’s on 64%.

Aguero, surprisingly, seems to be faring worst on this again, with just a 52% of his 139 shots hitting the target.

Assists

Total league assists 2016/17

Harry Kane7Romelu Lukaku6Sergio Aguero3Alexandre Lacazette3

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It’ll be a big job replacing Alexis Sanchez, and it’s in this area where it’s highlighted most – Arsenal will be losing a real all-rounder to someone more one-dimensional in his playing style.

While Sanchez got ten Premier League assists last season, Lacazette managed just three, putting him comfortably behind both Kane and Lukaku, though level with Aguero.

Lacazette doesn’t look much of a creator up front (Picture: Getty)

Alexis Sanchez contributed 30 goals and 13 assists in all competitions last season (Picture: Getty)

It’s not an essential part of being a striker, though it is increasingly useful in the modern game as penalty box poachers seem to have gone out of fashion, with more and more demands on centre-forwards to be involved in the build-up.

That’s not to say Lacazette can’t improve on that, or make up for it with his goalscoring instincts, which will surely be welcome in an Arsenal side who so often struggle to kill games off or break down stubborn defences due to too many players being eager to drift wide or drop deep.

It’ll surely be a tactical shift from the Gunners, but the numbers above suggest they may well be landing themselves the best striker they’ve had since Van Persie, and one who could challenge the likes of Kane and Lukaku for the Golden Boot next season.